“IT’S A GREAT DAY IN SC …” (FOR NIKKI HALEY’S CABINET)

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s scandal-scarred Department of Workforce and Employment (SCDEW) is responding to its latest black eye by taking a taxpayer-funded vacation to a lavish oceanfront resort along the South Carolina coast.

Agency director Abraham Turner is one of dozens of SCDEW bureaucrats who will be participating in a mid-week conference at the exclusive Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club from June 27-29 – a gathering that ostensibly focuses on the agency’s Disabled Veteran Outreach Program (DVOP).

Of course this “conference” includes five hours of Wednesday afternoon golf on a Jack Nicklaus signature course (a.k.a. “team building”) and one hour of “personal hygiene” time prior to a lavish meal at the Club’s Sawgrass Room – which we’ve heard boasts an excellent wine list.

Here’s an email from an SCDEW bureaucrat advising employees of the mid-week boondoggle …

From: Speed, Eugene ESpeed@dew.sc.gov
Date: Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 3:14 PM
Subject: Pawleys Island Veterans Conference Information
To: VetReps VetReps@dew.sc.gov
Cc: “King, Dennis” DKing@dew.sc.gov, “Paczynski, Michelle” MPaczynski@dew.sc.gov, “Davis, Charlie” CDavis@dew.sc.gov, “Melvin, Chena” CMelvin@dew.sc.gov, DEW Staff Managers DEWStaffManagers@dew.sc.gov, Area Directors AreaDirectors@dew.sc.gov, One Stop Operators OneStopOperators@dew.sc.gov, “Fairwell, Adrienne” AFairwell@dew.sc.gov, “Brantley, Molly” MBrantley@dew.sc.gov, “Ford, Ashley” AFord@dew.sc.gov, “Craft, Mary-Kathryn” MKCraft@dew.sc.gov

Attached are the Conference Agenda and Memorandum for Pawleys Island.  In reference to Day 1, June 27, 2012, individuals who are not participating in the team building golf event will be able to enjoy the amenities of the resort as you network.

As always if you have any questions please call or email me.

Eugene F.  Speed
Director of Veterans Service
Email address:  ESpeed@dew.sc.gov
Office Number:  (803) 737-2423
Blackberry:  (803) 413-7881

Ahhh …

There’s nothing like enjoying the amenities of a world class resort “as you network …” particularly when someone else is picking up the tab.

“Room costs for Wednesday, June 27 and Thursday, June 28 will be paid through direct billing to SCDEW,” the memo associated with the conference states, adding that “all conference meals will be provided at no expense to attendees.”

Not only that, conference attendees will be taught “how to prepare (their) travel voucher” so that they can be reimbursed for those costs, as well.

Sheesh …

The “Conference Agenda” referenced by the email can be found by clicking here, while the “Memorandum” can be viewed  by  clicking here.

Both Haley’s office and SCDEW refused to comment on the conference. Meanwhile Speed – the author of the email we obtained – refused to provide information regarding the conference or its costs.

Calls to Pawley’s Plantation were not immediately returned.

Haley’s SCDEW has been a case study in incompetence and mismanagement. This week (as we exclusively reported) the U.S. Department of Labor placed the agency on alert due to its “continuous failure to meet the minimum standard of performance” related to the distribution of unemployment benefits. Three months ago, the agency was the subject of a scathing audit by the S.C. Legislative Audit Council (SCLAC) which concluded that the agency owed $782 million to the federal government from its unemployment insurance fund.

Haley and “Republican” leaders in the S.C. General Assembly have proposed paying that debt back via a mixture of  tax hikes on businesses and individual South Carolinians.

The SCLAC report also discovered that South Carolinians who “took advantage” of the agency’s reemployment services needed an average of 26.5 weeks to get off of the public dole. Those who didn’t use SCDEW took only 22.3 weeks.

Since that audit, FITS has continued to receive reports of fraudulent activity taking place at the agency – which recently rewarded its bureaucrats for their failure with a taxpayer-funded barbecue party at a local park.

One out of every five dollars in unemployment benefits doled out in South Carolina is awarded erroneously – the eighth-highest percentage in the nation. Obviously that’s a big problem in a state that also has one of the highest unemployment rates in America.

Guess SCDEW executives believe the solutions to these problems are to be found on the lush green grass of an exclusive coastal golf course …

About FITS Leaks: The documents used in this report were provided as part of our ongoing “FITSLeaks” series – an effort to get public information (and other newsworthy items) out into the public bloodstream as quickly as possible. Got a document, photo or tip you’d like to submit? Email our founding editor Will Folks (w@fitsnews.com) or send it via our contact page (http://www.fitsnews.com/make-contact). All submissions are anonymous …

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INDIANAPOLIS, June 19, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
In recent strides forward the National Labor Exchange (NLX), a partnership between DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), has been granted access by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to over 20,000 federal job opportunities found on the federal website, USAJobs.gov. Federal job openings will now be distributed to the NLX website US.jobs, state job banks and microsites within the .JOBS network helping job seekers have quicker access to available federal government jobs

Created in 2007, the NLX is a unique partnership leveraging private, nonprofit technology and existing state workforce agency resources. The NLX collects and distributes job openings exclusively found on corporate career websites, state job banks, and now federal jobs. Recently, the National Labor Exchange hit a new milestone of one million job opportunities on a daily basis from over 110,000 employers of all sizes. Each of the job openings are unduplicated, currently available and from verified employers around the nation.

“Both NASWA and DirectEmployers are dedicated to the success of the NLX and are currently looking for more ways to improve its reach. By gaining a feed of federal jobs from USAjobs.gov we are able to further strengthen the NLX by providing a broad array of employment opportunities to job seekers,” said Bill Warren, Executive Director, DirectEmployers Association.

“Military veterans will benefit greatly from the addition of federal job openings to the National Labor Exchange not only because they will have access to more jobs, but also because they benefit from Veterans’ Preference in federal jobs,” added Rich Hobbie, Executive Director of NASWA.

As DirectEmployers and NASWA continue to expand the National Labor Exchange, one goal still remains the same – to collect each real job opportunity from employers and distribute quickly to job seekers.

About DirectEmployers Association

DirectEmployers Association is a leading nonprofit HR consortium of global employers that was formed to assist in the sharing of ideas, incorporating of best practices, and research and development of technology where labor practices are concerned. Through this consortium, business standards are shaped and technology is used with respect to the diversity that is reflected in the various cultures embodied in a global workforce. Our recognized expertise in compliance, recruitment and cost effective technology enables our members to reach the largest, most diverse pool of quality job seekers worldwide.

About The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) is an organization of state administrators of unemployment insurance laws, employment services, training programs, employment statistics and labor market information and other programs and services provided through the publicly-funded state workforce system.

SOURCE DirectEmployers Association

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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Transportation Security Administration

Jun 18, 2012

Seven Transportation Security Administration employees at Philadelphia International Airport face losing their jobs after an eight-month internal investigation into an alleged bribery scandal, the agency announced Friday.

The agency said it removed 10 employees from security duties last November pending the results of the investigation by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

“Since that time, three of the employees involved have resigned from TSA and seven others have been notified of TSA’s proposed action to terminate their employment,” the agency said in a release.

According to the release, “a training instructor responsible for administering annual proficiency exams was found to have accepted payment from TSA security officers to ensure passing grades.”

The training instructor pleaded guilty in February to a charge of bribery, the agency said.

“Any employee who willfully violates TSA rules will be held accountable for their conduct and appropriately disciplined,” said Chris McLaughlin, the agency’s assistant administrator.

This latest incident comes two weeks after 43 Transportation Security Administration workers in Florida were disciplined for not performing additional screening on random carry-on bags and passengers.

Last month, after a series of breaches at Newark Airport, a Homeland Security inspector general report found the agency is failing to adequately report, track and fix security breaches at airports. The agency responded to those incidents with “corrective action,” according to the inspector general, but not all the problems received the same treatment.

“There’s a TSA disaster every week, and the security meltdown gets more and more outrageous,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in a release put out by his office on Friday.

Mica, who has repeatedly called for privatizing Transportation Security Administration, said reforms “can’t come soon enough.” He added that hundreds of U.S. airports “still operate under the Soviet-style all-federal screening model.”

The Transportation Security Administration said that upon learning about the bribery allegations in Philadelphia, it notified the inspector general and worked closely with law enforcement during the investigation.

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